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State maps 70 mph speed-limit territories

View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoeric albrecht | DispatchJason Hamilton, an employee of the Ohio Department of Transportation sign shop in Columbus, sets a new 70 mph speed limit into the drying rack after taking it off the silk-screen table.

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Higher speed limits coming this summer will shave a few minutes off the ride from Columbus to
Cleveland, but don’t put the pedal to the floor just yet.

Wait at least until you clear the Columbus city limits.

The Ohio Department of Transportation announced yesterday that the speed-limit increase from 65
mph to 70 mph will start on July 1 on 570 of 1,332 miles of rural interstate highways. The increase
will affect stretches of highway in all directions from Columbus.

Gov. John Kasich signed off on the speed increase for rural interstates on April 1. Setting
urban boundaries was left to ODOT Director Jerry Wray, who also can increase the limit from 55 to
60 on some two-lane highways.

ODOT’s new speed map shows 70 mph on I-71 from the Jeremiah-Morrow Bridge outside of Cincinnati
to the Cuyahoga-Medina county line. Columbus is excluded. The higher limit also will affect I-70
from the Indiana border to Belmont County, near Wheeling, W.Va., but will exclude Columbus, Dayton
and Zanesville.

Drivers leaving Columbus on I-71 cannot drive 70 mph until they are in Delaware County to the
north (mile marker 129) or near the Franklin-Pickaway County line (mile marker 82) to the
south.

On I-70 out of Columbus, the speed limit doesn’t hit 70 mph until drivers cross into Licking
County (mile marker 119) to the east or Madison County (mile marker 85) to the west.

The speed limit will increase on rural stretches of I-75, I-76, I-77 and I-90 as well, but will
exclude urban areas, including Dayton and Akron.

State transportation officials considered such things as census data, proximity to interchanges
and the number of lanes on stretches of highway to determine where to increase the speed limit,
said spokesman Steve Faulkner.

ODOT is creating 317 new speed-limit signs — 261 will get overlays, 48 will be newly minted and
eight will highlight reduced speeds. Printing the signs will cost $8,287.19.

New placards should be finished next week, ODOT sign-shop supervisor Josh Wilson said. The
agency will send signs out to county offices for installation. New signs should be up by July 2,
Faulkner said.

Increasing the speed limit isn’t expected to result in any changes for the State Highway Patrol,
Lt. Anne Ralston said.

“This is what we do every day,” she said. “We know where the posted speed limit is and what the
speed limit is in various locations.”